SYSTEM: Trace Request — Alis De Aura: Target — Vivid De Aura…SYSTEM: Unknown Trace…
I cursed with what little air I had left in my lungs. Every breath scraped like glass inside me. No matter what they'd taught us, being a Codewright had never meant safety.
Not back in my tiny suburb — our patch of green grass, enough food on the table, my mother and father's bodies worn down just trying to keep that fragile pocket of code stable.
What good had it done them now that both their children had vanished into Cyberspace?
There was no glamour to this life — just a million needles stabbing my skin, driving me mad. Part of me almost wished I could just... let go.
But I couldn't. Not yet.
I dragged another breath into my burning lungs and forced my mind to sharpen.
My sister. My sun, my moon, my northern star.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain. I could not die here — not when she was still out there.
SYSTEM ACCESS: Memory — Alis De Aura: 01-30-3000
My last day of being whole flickered to life.
Sunlight, soft and lukewarm. Flowers swaying in a gentle breeze.
And me — the only discord in that perfect day — bursting out the door, hair flying behind me. "Vivid!"
There she was. My baby sister, standing barefoot in the flower bed, her violet eyes wide as moons. In her small hands she held a glowing blue orb. She giggled, tossing it from palm to palm, oblivious to the danger.
"Look what I can make!" she squealed. The orb pulsed larger — and inside it, I saw numbers flicker.
A portal. One of the doorways left behind by the Architects.
Blood pounded in my ears. Both the memory and the present me screamed, "No!"
She looked up mid-smile — and vanished. Pulled into the swirling gateway.
Gone.
The memory faded to black. Cyberspace swallowed me back into its cold embrace, gnawing at my limbs, threatening to tear me apart.
One thought held me together: Find Vivid. Find Vivid. Find Vivid.
SYSTEM: Trace Request — Alis De Aura: Target — Vivid De Aura…
I forced another breath. I'd been searching what felt like centuries, hunting her signal, tracing her last tether. She couldn't be dead. I refused to accept it.
SYSTEM: Last Known Location Found.
Like a miracle, a silvery thread appeared in the dark. A literal lifeline, faint but alive.
"Vivid…" I whispered, tears stinging my eyes.
But before I could reach for it, something huge loomed in the void. My heart slammed into my ribs.
The thread pulled me toward a glowing portal. My hands tangled in its code, wrapping tight like chains. The thread shimmered brighter than ever.
Find Vivid. Find Vivid.
I forced the sequence to open the door.
SYSTEM: Entrance Request — Runner: Alis De Aura. Status: Codewright.
I held my breath.
SYSTEM: Welcome, Alis De Aura, to Cradle ID: Architect.
The word hit me like a punch to the chest — Architect — and then I was yanked through the portal and slammed onto solid ground.
I gagged on a mouthful of foul, gritty dirt. I tasted rust and static. My head throbbed as I looked around — my first real place since I'd left home.
It was a ruin.
The air hung thick with dust and decay, clinging to my skin like static. I gasped for breath, blinking grit from my lashes.
I tried to stand — dizziness slammed me back down. Red warnings pulsed across my visor.
HUNGER: Critical.HEALTH: Low.SEEK TREATMENT IMMEDIATELY.
I cursed under my breath and flicked the warnings away. My body was little more than skin and bones — my arms thin enough to scare me.
How long had I been lost?
Someone grabbed my hair, yanking me up so hard I screamed. A dirty hand clamped over my mouth. A jolt of electricity shot through my spine — my muscles went numb.
"She's a pretty one," a rough voice rasped near my ear. "How much you think she'll fetch us?"
I was forced to look up at a face half-melted by corruption, teeth twisted into a grin. A grimy finger brushed my cheek.
My mind shrieked at me to focus. Even half-paralyzed, I pushed my will into the code.
SYSTEM ACCESS: Alis De Aura — Mayday…
I prayed for Cyberspace to answer. Power crackled — but instead of freeing me, a bolt of lightning struck the ground nearby, blinding me.
A figure emerged from the flash — a young man clad in white armor, helmet visor glowing blue.
My captors shrieked and dropped me. I hit the ground hard, face in the dirt.
Strong arms lifted me. Warm fingers brushed my cheek — gentle, careful.
Then everything went dark.
When I woke, I was still in that decaying forest. No sign of my attackers. No sign of the man in white.
Only my own tether — glowing, stubbornly alive.
Had I dreamed it?